Democratizing Inequalities Dilemmas of the New Public Participation

"Democratizing Inequalities is a timely and provocative compilation that demonstrates how participatory practices across a range of expected and unexpected locations cut both waysopening up avenues for citizen engagement while also limiting the democratic potential assumed to follow. The chapters in this volume are a welcome empirical corrective to celebratory discourses of citizen participation, and the book is certain to be an important resource for researchers and practitioners interested in the democratic possibilities of the 'new public participation.'" - Debra Minkoff,author of Organizing for Equality "The authors of Democratizing Inequalities set out to problematize the belief in public participation as a simplistic social good. With this collection of research-based studies and theoretical assessments of the field of participation and democracy studies they have thoughtfully and thoroughly achieved their goal." - Lynne M. Woehrle ,Mount Mary University (Mobilization) "The book is incredibly timely and deserves attention for its quality of scholarship and for its subject matter. It is an example of how research can both be scholarly and have uses for actors outside of academia." (Contemporary Sociology) "This is an exceptionally timely volume, consistently strong in its individual contributions and coherent in its collective analysis. Democratizing Inequalities both defines a major question for contemporary politicshow and why does political participation matterand advances a convincing contrarian argument. This volume and the questions raised within highlight a vital conversation about political theory and policy that is likely to be with us for many years." - Elisabeth Clemens,author of The People's Lobby "The volume clearly illustrates the complexities of democracy and deliberative politics. It shows us that, despite participatory processes, we have yet to perfect democracy. The book challenges us to consider whether deliberative processes achieve what we want them to." (Mobilization)